Robot joins Gov. Snyder for Mackinac Bridge Walk

A robot named "Fighting Pi", built by Team 1718 of the Academy of Arts & Sciences in Macomb County, Mich, crosses the five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge Monday, Sept. 1, 2014 celebrating Labor Day during the 57th annual Labor Day walk. The 30 students from for high school districts worked all summer on the robot, which was designed for the bridge walk. Lead by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, thousands cross from the upper peninsula of Michigan to the lower peninsula, the only day pedestrians are allowed on the span. (AP Photo/John L. Russell)

ST. IGNACE (AP) — Tens of thousands of people have taken part in the Labor Day walk across the Mackinac Bridge and they were joined by one robot.

Gov. Rick Snyder led the annual trek Monday across the 5-mile-long bridge linking Michigan’s two peninsulas. He walked with a robot constructed for the occasion by the FIRST robotics team from Macomb International Academy in the town of Armada.

FIRST is a program that encourages young people to learn about science and technology.

Several of the program’s students, teachers and mentors joined Snyder and the robot, which can travel up to 10 mph and is known as “The Pi Guy.”